Twenty-five Appoquinimink School District students visit Japan

Twenty-five high school students from the Appoquinimink School District had the chance to visit Japan and learn about its history and culture last month.

The eight-day trip was sponsored and funded by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its Kakehashi Project, a program which promotes mutual understanding between Japanese and other cultures, as well the study of the Japanese language in countries throughout the world.

The group of pupils who traveled to the Asian nation included 19 students from Appoquinimink High School and six from Middletown High School. All the students are taking Japanese as a foreign language.

Appoquinimink High School Japanese language teacher Linnea Bradshaw said she was contacted in June by the Japanese Consulate of New York asking if her school was interested in participating in the Kakehashi project.

“We were chosen from among several schools in the region that applied. I believe that we were chosen because the district has shown a strong commitment to the Japanese language and to international education in general,” Bradshaw said. “Our vision statement is ‘The World is our Campus,’ and this experience is something that brings this vision to life.”

The students in the trip were accompanied by Bradshaw and John Hoffman, a social studies teacher also at Appoquinimink High School.

During their time in Japan, the students traveled from Yokohama to the Fukushima region, some 300 miles north of Tokyo. The students participated in a homestay and also had the chance to experience traditional rice harvesting by cutting rice with a sickle, bundling it by hand and hanging it on a traditional drying rack. They also visited the traditional village of Maezawa to learn about the lifestyle of the farmers there.

Students had the chance to experience high-tech Japan, too, with a visit to a Sumita glass factory. Sumita manufactures high-precision lenses for cameras, medical equipment and fiber optic uses.

“My goals for the trip were for the students to experience the culture of Japan first hand, and to be able to use their Japanese to communicate with Japanese people. I also wanted them to gain an understanding of school life in Japan,” Bradshaw said. “This was a perspective-changing, life-changing trip for the students, to experience life in a country that they have studied. Japan has such a unique culture, one that is so completely different from our own.”

For Deja Woodward, 17, a senior at Appoquinimink High School who went on the trip, the experience has made her feel closer to Japan.

“It was amazing life changing experience and I really felt it should be something that others should experience,” Woodard said. “The homestay was my favorite part because it gave me a view of the inside of a Japanese home and I actually go to eat their home cooking.”

Upon their return, several other Japanese language students gave a presentation at the Nov. 10 school board meeting where they showed photos of their trip as well as shared their experiences with the board and the audience.

Who went

List of Appoquinimink School District students who visited Japan last month.

From Appoquinimink High School:

Olivia Bedard, Kyle Bell, William Cantera, Colton Cassidy, Ryan Cruz, Laurel Dellavalle, Jared Goodstadt, Owen Grabowski, Tim Johnson, Josiah Jones, Wes Jones, Kyle Kruger, Shaayal Kumar, Grace Ly, Samarah Pagan, Kaitlin Perrotta, Chenoa Wingo, Deja Woodard, and Zane Zaloga.

From Middletown High School:

Jen Green, Kailey Olinger, Jeffrey Manalo, Anastasia Sandles, Nic Varner, and Addison Tancredi.